Haven’t written in forever because I got very discouraged at the SLOW process of healing. I didn’t really think I was making that much progress to make it worth writing every day. Maybe I should have cut down to once a week and not once a month. 🙂
Well, I think I’ve made quite a bit of progress since the last time I posted. I can talk, well, and for quite a while. That’s made things easier in the communication process, especially back home and for the next few days – more about that later. I haven’t really made any progress in eating. I tried some foods, mostly soft, about 3 weeks ago. Everything hurt going down, some things worse than others. Some things tasted very good, some had little flavor at all. I am drinking a lot more. I’m back to sipping my Sprites/7Ups. The fizzes clear my throat. Cool to room temperature water is really good as well, and goes down very nice and easy. I’m really not eating anything at this time, but I did have a medical setback in the last couple of weeks.
Soooo, we had Hektor’s First Communion 2 weeks ago and everything was hunky-dory. And then I got really sick. Felt funny on Monday afterwards; was a little off on Teusday; then the shit hit the fan – excuse the language – on Wednesday. I was really, really tired and could barely get out of bed. I figured I’d give it a day. On Thursday, I wanted to kill myself (figuratively) I felt so bad. John came home to take me to the doctor. Of course on exam and bloodwork I didn’t look so bad. They could definitely tell by my demeanor that I felt like crap. They took blood for cultures from my port and peripherally. I got IV fluids and Rocephin and they sent me home. I didn’t really feel all that much better, but what’ya gonna do? Friday, I felt much better. Ahhh… I went back for more of the same in the afternoon and was prescribed Augmentin to start on Saturday. I got my meds and started those, but by Saturday afternoon I was starting to feel a little off again. On Sunday, Mother’s Day, I felt horrible again. Not quite as bad as Thursday, but close. I had to go to the emergency room while my mom watched her grandsons on Mother’s Day. Nice present? Bonding with your grandkids? John took me to the hospital and they repeated the bloodwork and blood cultures, and they took chest X-rays. Didn’t find anything all that wrong with me, so they wouldn’t admit me to the hospital, and boy, I was ready to stay. I got 2 liters of IV fluids and IV Leviquin and they sent me home. I actually did feel a bit better this time around. I felt quite a bit better on Monday, so Dr. Trillo started me on oral Leviquin and a “let’s see how things go.” I felt much better the next day and even better by Wednesday afternoon. On Wednesday my blood cultures came back negative, so I’m chalking this whole thing up to a severe upper respiratory I got from Marcus. Definitely back to feeling “normal” today.
Of course, since my blood cultures came back negative, I decided to join my friends on the vacation we’ve been planning for, oh, a year, our annual girls’ cruise. I guess maybe when Amanda turns 30, it’ll be the annual women’s cruise. Ha, ha! Either way I’m getting to try to eat different foods without having to cook them. For lunch yesterday, I had half a yogurt, a few spoonfuls of cottage cheese, a cup of milk, and a bite of bread and fish. The chunky of the bread and fish were still too much for my throat. For dinner, I tried gazpacho and mashed potatoes with sour cream and butter. The gazpacho tasted fantastic, but it’s too acidic for me to be able to eat any decent amount of it to count. The mashed potatoes were lumpy and tasteless, so I really didn’t get enough dinner and had to tube a can of my Jevity HR in to get some calories. I am drinking a load and a half of water, so that’s good. For breakfast this morning, I had some grits with strawberry jelly; they felt really weird in my teeth. Also had a half a yogurt and a large cup of milk, so I did quite well. I actually stopped eating because I felt tired and a bit full, which is kinda funny considering the minuscule amount of food I ate. I’m trying to find a good juice, so that I can get some calories in my drink too. This morning I have pineapple juice. It’s actually not bad going down, especially with a water chaser, and it tastes yummy. I’m actually finishing typing this lounging on the deck with my buds enjoying the sunshine. Today, life is good. 😀